Saturday, August 18, 2007

Beach erosion worries fishermen

By TUNKU SHAHARIAH

Eroded:Fishermen say the sea has claimed two metres of the beachfront at Kampung Tepi Sungai.

FISHERMEN in Kuala Muda and Ti-kam Batu, Kedah are worried over the beach erosion near the fish landing site at Kampung Tepi Sungai in Kota Kuala Muda.Tikam Batu Area Fishermen’s As-sociation former chief Zainol Mohd Nor, 51, said the retaining wall was not high enough to prevent waves from pounding against the land area during high tide. He said the sea had claimed the beachfront by at least two metres.Zainol added that the Malaysian Fisheries Development Authority (LKIM) in Tanjung Dawai had in Ja-nuary, built a 1.5m high gabion wall from granite rocks.These were held in place by wire netting to prevent the erosion.Eroded:Fishermen say the sea has claimed two metres of the beachfront at Kampung Tepi Sungai.“However, the barricade is not strong enough to hold back the tide, particularly during the monsoon season.“The authorities should build a stronger barricade,” he said.Zainol also said some 400 fi- shermen from Kuala Muda Utara (Seberang Prai), Kuala Muda Sela-tan (Kedah) and Tikam Batu would usually unload their day’s catch at the site for distribution to wholesalers.He added that a wooden shed, built 23 years ago, was destroyed by the 2004 tsunami and a concrete one was built to replace it.“After the tsunami, the beach-front was left without a mini jet- ty for fishermen to unload their heavy carts weighing at least 60kg each.“Two fishermen would take turns to heave the carts over the 1.5m high barricade and walk about 5m to the landing site,” he added.